Picture Palace Music – Somnambulistic Tunes

For this release, Thorsten Quaeschning has chosen to compose a neo/classical work of cinematic music, all inspired by Robert Wienes (over 80 years old) silent vintage movie “Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari”. Still, there’s quite a bunch of electronics involved in the creation of “Somnabulistic Tunes”, for which he also invited two guest musicians on sax and e-guitar on two tracks.

The continuous 75-minute “soundtrack” is a darker-shaded and diverse work with quite a lot of mysterious angles and adventurous currents running through, but staying accessible all the way. There are actually quite some pronounced bass lines and restrained rhythms present in the 17 compositions, next to occasional choral and vocal pads that gently lift things into more celestial realms.

I’m quite moved by the albums more intimate renderings, such as the smooth “Night, Night Night”, “Jane and Cesare” or “Jane’s Nightmare”, but also love the more sequencer-driven, rhythmic outings as heard on e.g. “Help, Murder, Help” and “On the Run”. “Celebrating Fears Part II” is the only minor track, taking too much of an experimental/abstract approach.

But then again, the 14-minute “Invastigation” following next is an excellent move, which also goes for the beautifully orchestrated “Final” rounding out the disc. All in all, these deep tunes trigger the imagination while shifting between occurrences taking place in between light and shadow.